Reviews with content warning for Violence - Damage

Holy twist, Batman. I can’t believe this is a debut! The Damage takes us through the aftermath of Nick’s violent sexual assault. When he tells a detective and the ER receptionist he was raped by a man, he is met with funny looks and skepticism. Are you sure you, a strong man, we’re raped? Inevitably, the case hits the media right away, and Nick struggles to tell his truth. Can his big brother, Tony, save him, as he has many times before? If you want to read a book involving marital issues, damn, this is it. Due to the topics involved, it is not necessarily a quick read, but I was so throughly impressed. You’ll probably think you have it all figured out, but I can assure you… you don’t.

“And maybe she’d been right. That she could look those people in the eye and treat them like they were anyone else, regardless of what they were accused of . . . he might have judged her for it before. Might have judged her just now, in his mind a moment ago. But he was lucky, he realized. So lucky to have a wife who was calm in the face of darkness.”

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davidbythebay's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This was good. I think the ending was satisfying enough, though I clocked the outcome early on. I liked Nick and his brother, though his brother's white knighting got old fast. The rest of the characters - including the other two main POVs Julia and Detective Rice - were middling as their motives and actions were sometimes not really supported by their character. The assailant was abhorrent and arrogant, making it easy to hate him. But it still raises the question: is the ending justified?

My biggest problem with this was not the plot, but the questions it raises. The plot was satisfactorily concluded, as I said before, despite it not being enthralling. No, the issue I have is with the topics this novel covers and the questions it raises. In sum, I feel as though the questions raised weren't fully explored or expanded on. They were mentioned and moved on from more than questioned and analyzed. Yes, the ending was satisfying to an extent, but it breaks down with a few threads pulled.

The following is set as a spoiler because it gets into a few plot points which are kind of in the summary description but I'm going to go just a bit deeper.

The first question I want to discuss is the focus on a male victim/survivor of rape and sexual assault. I absolutely believe that this story isn't explored enough and discussed enough in literature and society at large. Indeed, the hospital employee first met when Nick enters to report his rape and seek medical help begins the interaction by thinking the female friend with Nick is the victim. The fact that we largely assume that when we discuss rape the victim is a female is, statistically, correct, though should we be basing assumptions on statistics alone? Shouldn't we take a statement on its face and not try to fit it a preconceived notion we have? In the employee's position, I think it is outright disrespectful to automatically think that it was the female before them and not the victim who stated it. By trying to fit the preconceived notion that rape is a female victimization ignores and pre-judges the male victim, as though they doesn't believe him about what he said. They said as much in the text. Again, the reporting of rape or sexual assault by male victims may be less frequent than by female victims, though that shouldn't matter. I feel as though this general question about society's focus rape being a female-victim crime ignores all genders and sexualities that are not female. And let's not forget that this is further discriminatory of trans persons as the assumptions of both trans people and rape defy the simple logic of many. The novel raises this male victim question a few times but never explores it or answer it. It leaves a bit of a thought lodged in the mind, but never establishes arguments or nuances to patterns of thinking. This would have been wonderful.

Then we have the question of gay men. It is still an unbelievably harmful stereotype that gay men are overly concerned with finding and engaging in rough and dangerous sex. Not true. The assumptions about gay men interacting with the rape plot line are again mentioned but not explored. At best it's an aside a few times. This deserved more discussion and exploration. Especially as I felt there was some stuff that could have been cut unless it went somewhere else, like Julia's use of a private eye to find other victims; this could have opened up the discussions I wanted from this thriller - discussions I only wanted after they were raised, not when I entered the book. As it stands, the private eye and some of the side quests of this felt very much like a waste when it was over. Those sections could have been halved at least and allowed for more interesting discussions.

A final issue I had is with the dynamics of the effects of rape on the family. Nick, our victim, has some of his psychological reactions explored but the story doesn't really focus on him much. No, the story is focused almost exclusively on Julia and Detective Rice. And with Julia and her husband Tony - of whom we do get narrated chapters - we see the strain on their marriage and themselves, but again it was half-hearted. There was so much to explore and dive into there which could have supported the thriller aspects of this novel by, for example, playing on the inner psychological ramifications of Nick's ordeal on Tony and Julia separately and how that was really impacting the marriage and the kids. These aspects were there, but I felt they were again just forgotten about. When the back description calls out the small-town family effect of this crime - "When a small-town family is pushed to the brink, how far will they go to protect one of their own?" - I wanted more about the family dynamics. Nick's formerly abusive father who seems to have a character shift I don't fully accept - I felt he would hold onto some of his more aggressive traits - and the more extended family beyond Nick, Tony and Julia are brought together but never given much attention to. The background stories about why Tony is so protective of Nick were amazing at explaining his current motivations, but either work with the characters it introduces when they appear again or forget bringing them in again.

REAL SPOILER FOR THE ENDING!!!!!!!!! As for the ending, I don't understand why the arrogant and confident Ray - the rapist - would follow Julia's plan at all. It felt completely far from his character unless he had done this before and wanted the chance to do this again. There are hints he raped and sexually assaulted before, but nothing is confirmed. So why follow the plan of your victim's sister-in-law at all? And I understand Julia's connections to have Ray disappear, but again there is a level of unbelievability of the situation.

Overall, it was good though it was a bit of a let down that I don't think I'll remember much of n a few months beyond the questions it raises.

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cayv97's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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bostonbooksandbubbles's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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danielghurst's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

THE DAMAGE by Caitlin Wahrer is the tense story of the Hall family dealing with a major trauma. When twenty-year-old Nick is the victim of a sexual assault, he turns to his protective older brother, Tony, and Tony's wife, Julia, for help. Told in a dual timeline in which Julia meets with the detective from Nick's case years later, the story is about how the characters' actions affect their relationships and the damage that reverberates from that one awful night.

This book is a fantastic blend of suspense and character study. With the juxtaposition of the dual timelines, some well-placed cliffhangers, and a touch of dramatic irony, Wahrer keeps the pages turning in this small story. We do see glimpses of the wider world of the court system, police department, and local press, but most of the drama is contained to a handful of characters. Each one is well-developed and comes alive on the page with just enough backstory to inform their present choices and with dialogue that feels true to life and the individuals. Much of the tension in the story comes from their relationships, and the light touch of suspense allows space to address difficult topics (see content warnings below) with the care they deserve while keeping the story compelling.

THE DAMAGE is a stunning debut, and I look forward to seeing what Wahrer does next!

CW: sexual assault, physical violence, self-harm, overdose, suicide attempt, alcoholism, child abuse

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